Modern combustion engines may include one or more cylinders as part of the engine. The cylinder and an associated piston may define a combustion chamber therebetween. Within the combustion chamber, fuel for combustion is directly injected into the combustion chamber by, for example, a fuel injector, which is associated with the cylinder and has an orifice disposed such that it can directly inject fuel into the combustion chamber.
Different mixtures and/or equivalence ratios of the fuel/air mixture within the fuel jet may produce different results during combustion. The manners in which the injected fuel mixes and/or interacts with the air and other environmental elements of the combustion chamber may impact combustion processes and associated emissions. Further, if the fuel and air mixing is inadequate or the dispersion of said fuels is inconsistent, then suboptimal or abnormally large amounts of soot may form within the combustion chamber. Dispersion of fuel within the combustion chamber may be affected by the manner in which the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber by a fuel injector.
To aid in preventing or reducing soot formation and to increase efficiency in such combustion engines, systems and methods for altering fuel dispersion within a combustion chamber have been developed. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0186555 (“Ducted Combustion Chamber for Direct Injection Engines and Method”) discloses ducted combustion within a combustion engine, which may affect mixing and dispersion of fuel within a combustion chamber. The ducts of the '555 application ducts may form a passageway corresponding to an orifice of the fuel injector, into which fuel jets are injected. The fuel jets may be channeled into the ducts, which may improve fuel combustion because upstream regions of a direct-injected fuel jet may be affected by faster and more uniform mixing.
While the teachings of the '555 application are advantageous in providing an improved fuel/air mixture, further improvements in fuel/air mixtures and charge utilization of said fuel are always desired, as such improvements may further reduce emissions and soot formation. Improvements may be made to the fuel injector to improve fuel/air mixing, rather than, or in addition to, utilizing ducted combustion. Therefore, fuel injectors utilizing extensions at split spray angles, which may improve dispersion of fuel in a combustion chamber, are desired.